PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Casey Hampton rattled off several expletives Thursday while complaining Atlanta guard Tyson Clabo intentionally tried to hurt him with a block to the back of his legs.
"I can't tell you what I told him but it was all dirty, man," Hampton said. "That's like you have no respect for the game. You're just out there trying to hurt somebody and I'm out there trying to make a living. I was real, real mad and I let him know I was real mad, too."
Hampton said the block came as he was trying to run down a receiver along the sideline during the Falcons' 41-38 overtime victory Sunday in Atlanta. Hampton, a Pro Bowl lineman last season, became the second Steelers player in two days to complain about Atlanta's style of play.
On Wednesday, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said a Falcons defensive player he wouldn't name taunted him about his surgically repaired face before sacking him -- the play in which the Super Bowl-winning quarterback received a concussion.
Asked to identify the player, Roethlisberger said, "I'll remember his number."
Hampton injured a hamstring against Atlanta and is questionable for Sunday's game at Oakland, but the injury did not occur on the play that angered him.
Hampton was upset because Clabo, who was starting his first game, appeared to be looking to not just take him off his feet but to knock him out of the game. Clabo was starting because left guard Matt Lehr drew a four-game suspension last week for violating the NFL's steroids policy.
"That's the kind of stuff where you say, `I want to see you in the street, because it's more like you're really trying to hurt me,"' Hampton said. "There's nothing on the field I can do to you without getting fined or something."
Last week, defensive end Brett Keisel said the Steelers had to be prepared for the Falcons offensive line's cut-blocking techniques. The Falcons are well known around the NFL for blocking below the knees, a technique that forces a defensive player to drop his hands and effectively cuts his feet out from beneath him.
Like Roethlisberger, Hampton said he will remember the incident. However, the AFC-NFC scheduling format prevents another Steelers-Falcons game until 2010, unless it occurs during the playoffs.
"I take that personally, more than anything, if you're going for the back of my legs," Hampton said. "It's one thing when I'm engaged and you're coming down and you're chop-blocking me. You're basically saying you can't block me. I can accept that."
A chop block is when one lineman joins another in a high-low hit that takes out an opposing player. Falcons running back Warrick Dunn was penalized for a chop block against Pittsburgh.
"But when you're coming out here in the game and throw down at the back of my legs, now you're trying to hurt me," Hampton said. That's how I feel about that."

Hampton a Big mutha to be messing with, I know I wouldn't

BlitzburghRockCity

10-27-2006, 10:17 AM

The Falcons are as bad at this as the Broncos are, yet the league just continues to let it go because they say their technique isn't technically a chop block or illegal at all. It doesnt matter, it comes down to not having respect for your opponent and not being able to block the way its supposed to be done. You don't see the Steelers or most other teams doing it because we have good coaches and players that respect each other and the game, and we know how to kick your *** the way it's supposed to be kicked in the running game !